Understanding your Gear - part two: Shutterspeed

Understanding your Gear - part two: Shutterspeed

You know I'm on Google+ and most of my posts go there. Since a few weeks you can find me on Facebook (yeah, me) as well. Interacting with other people on both of them "social" sites I learned a few people wanted to get to understand their camera better. Of course: I don't know all of the camera's they have. So this article will not be about knobs, wheels, options, touches... If you where expecting that: RTFM!

Okay, your Gear. What's it all about? Let's start with your camera. I can write a few articles on that one. Planning on three to be exactly...
There are three things you can "set" for taking that one great image: aperture, shutter-speed and ISO.
Yeah, we've gone digital. All kinds of menu's and pre-sets are offered by your camera: fancy-filters, great effects. That's all about post-processing. It has nothing to do with taking a good picture.

Photography is all about light.
A photographer uses his camera to control the light in order to take a great picture.

Aperture: How much light can reach the sensor (or film)?
ShutterSpeed: How long will the sensor (or film) be exposed?
ISO: How sensitive is the sensor (or film) to the light?

A S ISO

Some camera's show Av, Tv, ISO or A, T, ISO. Where T stands for Time.
I stick to A for Aperture, S for shutterSpeed and ISO for ISO or ASA (film).